The Chef's Table: English 110 Blog Hub

 In this post, you will introduce yourself to your readers by thinking about the role which food plays in your own life, and talking about your own food history and foodways. Choose ONE of the following options:

1) Write a profile of yourself based on the contents of your refrigerator or your food shelf. What do the items in it reveal about you? What don't they reveal? Do you think people would get an accurate idea of you based on it?

2) Write about one of your favorite meals. Why do you like that particular food? Where did you first encounter it? What does it reveal about your background, your interests, your personality, your experiences, etc?

3) Write about a food-related memory you have. Why is it significant to you? What does it show about you as a person? What does it reveal about your background, your interests, your personality, your experiences, etc?

In each case,  use the prompt as a springboard for a short portrait, a different way of introducing yourself. Be creative in writing your response!

Also, don’t include sensitive information about yourself that you aren’t comfortable sharing with others, as your classmates will be reading and responding to this post.

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To help you customise your blogs (if you so wish), I went hunting for some food-related themes that I thought were fun and attractive.

Be a Gourmet

This theme is bright, colorful and cheerful. I love the stripy background!

It also has delicious looking food, which will make all the visitors to your blog hungry!



Cake Recipe

This template has more of an urban edge with the slightly weathered, grunge feel that it has.

It also has cake.The cake may or may not be a lie.




Mis Dulces Tentaciones

This template certainly lives up to its name. It's very sweet with its cream and pink pastels, and its hand-drawn sketches of cakes and ice-cream.

I suspect you'll either love it or hate it.



Let's Get Drunk

I love how bright and colorful this template is. It feels like cocktails on a tropical beach.

For some reason, I find the "Hello!" very amusing too. It's as if the theme is trying to start an inappropriate, drunken conversation with you.

Morning Coffee

It seemed appropriate for a college course, given that the entire academic project is fueled by tons of caffeine.

It would be even more appropriate if I were teaching at 7.45 again . . .


These are just some options. There are tons of other themes available . . .

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In this post, I'm briefly going to describe how you might use a third-party template (in case you grow tired of Blogger's defaults or put more of a personal stamp on your space).  Please read through all the way before experimenting!

Blogger allows you to create your own templates, which isn't a good idea, unless you're a super programmer. However, you can import third-party blog templates, many of which are available for free on sites such as BTemplates or Deluxe Templates. In fact, I used a template from there to customise this site.

Take a stroll on the BTemplates site and browse through their free layouts. When you arrive at a layout that you like, click on the bright orange download button. Download the zip file onto your desktop:

Unzip the file. You should now have a folder that (typically) contains two files -- a read-me file and an XML file. The read-me file contains some simple installation instructions. You probably don't need to follow those as they're virtually mimicked here, but it might be helpful.

The only file that matters for installation purposes is the XML file. You don't need to open this at all (unless you're curious... or nerdy). Make sure you're logged into blogger. Once there, click on the Layout tab and choose Edit HTML.

Right here, I'd recommend clicking on the Download Full Template link. In doing so, you'll save all of your hard tweaking work from your previous blog layout, just in case this new blog layout turns out to be fouler than you'd imagined. Save this file (also an XML file) in a safe place on your computer. You might need it someday.

Now onto the new layout! Under Backup/Restore Template, click "Browse" and find the XML file for the new template you downloaded. Then, hit "Upload."

You should now have a new design! "Should" being the keyword.

What the read-me file doesn't tell you is this: there are quirks in the system. When you go to upload your XML file, for instance, you might be prompted with a warning message: sometimes, you have to delete some of your gadgets and then reinstall them for the template to work. This means that you might have to delete a link list and then re-enter the whole thing. And, of course, this can be time-consuming.

Also, sometimes the template just doesn't look like it did on the preview page. These are third-party layouts, so designers might not keep the templates current with the blogger software.

Hopefully, though, this will provide you with some scope for imagination. Have fun experimenting with your blog's look!

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According to the professionals, it's a good idea to introduce yourself in the first entry of your blog.

So . . . I'm Karen, your instructor for English 110.01. That's me with my fiance in the picture to the left. (Helpful hint: I'm not the tall guy in a tux.) I'm originally from sunny South Africa, and have been living in Columbus for about a year now, which means I still feel like a foreigner quite a bit of the time. I'm a graduate student in the English department, I'm about to start on my Ph.D, and I study medieval literature, which means that I mainly focus on writing produced in England in the 8th-9th and 13-14th centuries. I'm particularly interested in issues of rhetoric, gender and disability in those periods.

Perhaps fortunately for this course, though, I have a ton of more modern interests. So, here are some random facts about me:

• I read a lot of books, normally more than one at a time. I tend to have a skyscraper of them next to my bed. As of spring break, I have just finished reading Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry and Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon.
• I am a gamer.
• I love science-fiction of all kinds. I am currently addicted to Battlestar Galactica and Fringe. 
• I love going to watch big Broadway musicals, and am a huge Gleek. I can't wait until Chicago and Wicked come to Columbus this year!
  
• I do karate, and am a big fan of MMA. I worship at the shrine of Lyoto Machida, who has done much to erase the shame of Fred Ettish's fetal fighting. (Yes, I am aware he drinks his own pee. That's just a sign of how hardcore he is.) 

Finally, as I Can Has Cheezburger has taught us, nothing makes for a successful blog like pictures of cute cats. Fortunately, I have one of those at my apartment. Meet Miss Hobbes, who is a lot bigger by now but no less cute than she was in this photo!

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